Cloudy Days
by Black-Vengence
Summary: Cloud, a far from normal teen. Having family and lack of friend problems is the least of his problems. When his crush since grade school saves him from an unfortunate kidnapping by school bullies how will he cope with his feelings for him? Zack/Cloud
1. Saviors and Pain

As much as I'd like to say that I tried my best, I didn't, and as much as I'd like to say that I thought, hoped, and wished you could save me, but in the end you couldn't even do so much as help me up when I had fallen my lowest. And here's my story on how I got there…..

"Hahahaha," they all laugh, "that's what you get Strife, and this is what happens when you go somewhere you don't belong! Freak!" they yell as they walk away. _///Stupid Kadaj and his brothers. Every single day they do these kinds of things. What did I ever do to them? Am I really that big of a freak? Every day they beat me to a pulp and I can't do a thing about it. Teachers don't care and my brother will certainly never come to my rescue. Who am I kidding? I really am worthless.///_ I get up off of the ground and wipe the blood off of my face and I make my way to my first period class. My head hurts like crap, I remember them hitting me and then everything went black, and the next thing I knew I was waking up in the storage room seeing Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo. Right after I woke they took their usual turns using me as the human punching bag. As I walk in I notice that surprisingly that there isn't anyone in the room, so I grab my usual chair in the back corner of the room. ///_Where is everyone? This is first period, right?/// _As I look at the clock I realize school is over and it has been for the past hour and a half. ///_Shit. They must have knocked me out pretty good; I didn't think it was this late. Great, by the time I get home _he_ will be there… I won't be able to sneak in either. What should I do?/// _As I walked to the front, school door I thought about what I should do in order to get past my drunken step-father. I walked out of the school and started to walk home when suddenly out of nowhere Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo jump me. "You didn't think we'd let you off so easily did ya, Strife?! said Kadaj, their worshipped older brother. "You already did enough earlier! So leave me alone! I screamed. "No no no no no, we were going to but you blacked out on us way too early, so now we're gonna make sure you don't pass out this time! Kadaj yelled, as he maniacally laughed. When he stopped laughing I looked up and the last thing I saw was Loz's fist slamming into my face.

_///Shit, shit, shit. I am so dead once I get home. Where the hell am I anyway?///_ I opened my eyes only to find a blindfold over them and I was gagged no one could hear me scream. I tried to take off the gag and blindfold I found my hands tied behind my back to a pole. I moved my head only to feel a fist to the side of my face. "Rise and shine Strife," said Kadaj as he took off the blindfold. Right when he took it off there was a blinding bright light which made me instinctively close my eyes. After my eyes adjusted I decided to look at what kind of condition I was in, I felt dried blood caked on my upper lip and on my cheek from Loz's last blackout punch. I looked and Kadaj was talking and apparently he had been talking to me but I wasn't even paying attention to him. Kadaj's voice escalated as he realized I wasn't paying attention to him. "You're not even listening to me!! he screamed. I cringed, closing my eyes waiting for a slam in the face that never came. When I opened my eyes I saw that Kadaj was being held up against the wall by somebody, but I couldn't see my savior's face. ///_How the hell did anyone know where I was?! I don't even know where I am!/// _All of a sudden I feel sharp, cold metal up against my throat and a trail of blood running down my throat from the cut it was leaving. "Let him go or else!" screamed Loz. My savior turned and looked in my direction only to find what had happened while he had his back turned. "Fine," he said as he slammed Kadaj's head on the wall causing him to black out, and then he set him down gently against the wall. "There, I let him go, let Cloud go right now!" my savior yelled. "Fine," Loz smirked as he removed the knife from my neck, but instead of letting go of me he screamed for Yazoo to attack my savior. Then like clock-work Yazoo jumped out and wrapped his arm around his neck, squeezing it tighter and tighter, choking him so he couldn't breathe. "Let him go!" I screamed. "No way, not after the way he barged in here and attacked Kadaj. I can't believe that somebody would come to save the likes of you!" Loz said, as he laughed in hysterics. I tried to get out of the ropes that binding my wrists but they were so tight that I wound up breaking my wrist. I screamed a blood-curdling scream out in pain which surprised everyone and they all stopped and stared at me in horror. Loz and Yazoo grabbed Kadaj and ran and Yazoo managed to stomp on my wrist before leaving, but my savior fell to the floor choking and then got up and ran over to me as I blacked out.

When I woke up I was being carried and everything felt fuzzy like dream. "I see you're awake," said the person carrying me. "Uhhnnn," I groaned as I went to feel my head. "Hey! Hey! Hey! Don't move! You have a broken wrist so bear with the pain until we can get you to a hospital and get you fixed up." "NO! No hospitals!" I screamed, which was a bad idea because he jumped and bumped into my arm, which wound up making me scream again. "Sorry! Sorry! Here let me set you down." Whoever saved had to have been always working out because he picked up Kadaj and he's carried me for a while now. As he gently set me down on the closest bench my arm fell out of my lap and just before it hit the bench he gently caught it and held it until I was fully laid down.

"There ya go. How do you feel?" he asked.

"Like shit," I said as I rubbed my forehead with my good arm.

"No surprise, considering you just got the shit beat out of you," he said as he sat next to my head. Once he was seated, he looked at me and I saw the face of my savior. It was Zack Fair, my crush since grade school, and now he's saved me and taking care of me. ///_Oh my God! What the-? Why did he-? How did he even find me?!///_

"How did you even find me?" I asked.

"I saw Kadaj and his gang, jump you and knock you out. When you were out they threw you in their trunk and drove off and I followed them here and well, you know the rest."

"Why did-?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you save me?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, puzzled.

"I'm the freak of the school and everyone knows it so why did you feel the need to help me?"

"Do you have a problem with me having saved you or something?!" he asked peeved by my response.

"No, I just don't understand why you cared enough to help someone like me," I responded.

"What, do you think I am like all of those other jerks out there?! You think I'm shallow enough to let someone get kidnapped and beaten and then do nothing?! Maybe I shouldn't have helped you if I knew that you really wanted all of that!" he screamed.

"Maybe you should have! Cause if you did, maybe I would be dead by now and that would be pretty fucking great!" I screamed. After I realized what I said, I got up and ran towards home.

I ran for seven blocks and looked back and didn't see him following me so I began to walk. I walked for what seemed like an hour and then I finally reached the place my family calls _home._ I stood outside contemplating how I would explain to my mother where I was and what happened and how I wouldn't wake up my step-father and get any further injured. I looked down at my wrist to find that it was crudely wrapped until further attention could be given to it, but I wanted to find out how bad the damage was. I started unwrapping what looked like a ripped T-shirt, but what I found was much more horrifying than I thought. My wrist had been dislocated and turned from struggling against the bonds that held me and from the kick Yazoo gave me a bone had punctured the skin and was hanging out. "Shit, I need to go to a hospital. As much as I know that I can't, I know that I need to."

_///What am I going to do? I can't walk in there looking like this, _he_ will kill me for being such a wuss and not being able to fight back, and mom isn't even back yet. I'm just going to go to the field in the park to stay the night until I can figure out what to do.///_

I walked to the park holding my broken arm to my chest. I began getting dizzy from all of the blood loss caused by the protruding bone, but I couldn't pass out on my street because my mom would definitely find me. I had to get away, no, I needed to get away from the road and this area. Finally, after walking for another forty-five minutes or so I collapsed and couldn't get back up. _///Am I going to die like this? It hurts. It hurts really bad. Finally, now I can fall into my eternal slumber. _Right before I passed out I heard footsteps and yelling. Whoever it was, they rolled me over to face them and I saw that it was Angeal, Zack's older brother, and –speak of the devil- Zack was standing right next to him looking at me in horror as if to say, "What the hell?! I just saved your ass, why the hell are you so close to dying? Stupid idiot, I told you to go to a hospital." Right as everything was going dark I heard someone say that I was going to be okay and that help was on the way. _///What if I don't want to be okay? What if I don't want to be saved? Why would they help someone like me? It doesn't make any sense at all. Can't they see how worthless I am? They should just leave me to die.///_


	2. Hospital Escapades

Sorry about the late updates everyone. School happened and I have had like no time to do anything. Hope you enjoy this chapter, and the next should be up eventually. ^-^

Chapter 2

It's amazing and saddening how when you close your eyes you can dream and be anything you want, but once you open them it's over and you're back where you started and going nowhere. I often dream of living in a place where I don't have to worry or fear anymore, but as I keep thinking about it the more I realize that the only thing that I want is nothing more than a fantasy, a figment of my imagination. It's like I wake up every day to a dream I wish to wake up from but never actually do.

_///Where am I? Am I in heaven or on the brink of death? I can't tell. I hope I never have to wake up again. I would be happy to stay like this forever./// _As I think about this I smile and hold my breath for what happens next.

"Wake up!!!" I hear as I feel myself being shaken along with hearing this annoying ringing noise.

_///I don't want to wake up, why won't they just let me be?///_

"Cloud!! Come on buddy stay with us!!" I hear someone scream. It was a heart-wrenching scream that made me flinch in my mind.

_///That scream. I know that scream.///_ As I thought about the person that owned the scream I felt myself being pulled from the darkness back to the light which I dreaded so much, but I wasn't afraid of the light for once in my life.

"Clear!" I hear someone yell as I felt a painful jolt ran starting at my chest going throughout my whole body. I cough awake and right as I start coughing even more I feel a mask go onto my face which helps me breathe a lot better. They start to take the mask away to see if I'm in a lot of pain but I grab it with my good arm and keep it on my face, refusing to let them take the one thing keeping me from coughing away. As I look around I see Zack and he's got the saddest but happiest look on his face as if to say that he pities me but is happy I'm alive.

After my huge ordeal between life and death I was staring at my fingers when I heard the door to the room I was in open. I quickly pretended to be asleep, fearing who might have walked in would be there only to worsen my day for no reason other than their own entertainment. As I peeked through the crack between my eyelids I saw a nurse holding something in her hands. I opened my eyes slowly as she approached the side of my bed and started looking at the stitches on my wrist.

"Mister Strife, we need to give your medication now," said the nurse who had just walked in.

"Oh, okay," I said quietly. As I waited I started trying to remember what had happened to me to get in here. "There, all done," she said as she cleaned up after herself and then left. As I kept staring at my wrist I heard the door open, I look over and see Zack slowly walk into the room. He walked over to the bed and sat down in the chair next to it. "So you're finally awake. We thought you'd never wake up," he said.

"How long have I been out," I asked.

"About two days now," he replied.

"Holy shit, what the hell happened to me?! Why am I even here?!" I scream.

"You seriously don't remember?" he asked, shocked.

"No," I replied practically silent while looking at him.

"After I got you away from Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo we got into a fight and you walked off I got my brother Angeal and we tailed you to make sure you made it someplace okay. You went down this one street, stopped in front of some house, and unwrapped your wrist and left. You just kept walking and then you collapsed and we called for an ambulance, right after we called you started seizing and you nearly died from blood loss." After saying everything he became very quiet and didn't say anything and just looked at his feet and the ceiling.

"How the hell did I nearly die though? I don't remember my wrist being that bad when I looked at it," I said puzzled.

"Your wrist was bleeding from before but not that bad, but when you passed out you fell right in your wrist and the bone went through the artery in your wrist. I have never seen so much blood come out of someone before. It was quite, well, terrifying. I thought for sure you were a goner. They put you in the ambulance and hooked you up to some machine and had to try and revive you four times. Normally they allow anyone other than family but they allowed me because I was the only one who knew who you were."

"I wish they hadn't. I have no clue how I'm going to explain this situation without getting the shit beaten out of me," I mumbled.

"Huh?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing I'm just really dizzy and tired. I think I should go to sleep now."

"Okay and I'm going to head out now, oh and by the way, your parents should be here sometime later, they said that they had to take care of some things before they came. So I'll see ya later!" With that happy note he left, and I was scared shitless of what's going to happen when my _parents_ get here. Instead of thinking about them, I went into a dreamless sleep that seemed to last forever.


	3. Suicidal Tendencies

Chapter 3

Even though being alone is great at keeping people who will eventually hurt you away, it is the loneliest existence one could possibly have. Even if someone had a friend that wasn't nice, cared, or even respected them, it is better than not having any at all.

_///Maybe I should pretend to be asleep whenever someone walks in today. I don't want to hear what my "parents" have to say. My step- father will probably attack me once he walks into the room and still sees me breathing. As much as he hates spending money on anything other than food, clothes, bills, and of course booze, he would loathe me even more for getting hurt and wasting money on me to get better.///_

I lay on the bed staring at the ceiling for what seems like years before someone walked into the room. Once I heard the door open I closed my eyes as quickly as I could.

"What's wrong Cloud? Not gonna say hello to your older brother?" he asked in a sarcastic, annoyed voice. Once I heard his voice me whole body tensed and I felt like I couldn't breathe. _///No! Why did he have to come? He hates me! If he could've he would have killed me a long time ago; so why the hell is he visiting me in the hospital?!/// _I opened my eyes and looked over to the doorway where he was standing, and with a look of horror pasted on my face I breathed, "Sephiroth…"

"Hello Cloud. What's wrong? You look a little pale," he said in a sinister voice, "you know, our "parents" are furious with you? You, being the weakling that you are, can't even defend yourself against three boys younger than you. Pitiful. I never thought that you could disgust me even more than you already do, but you proved me wrong, now didn't you?"

"Why the hell are you here?!" I asked surprised.

"Our "parents" couldn't come and get you out today so they sent me with the paperwork to drop it off and to take your sorry-ass home," he replied.

"We both know you didn't intend on letting me get into your car. So I suggest I'm walking home," I said.

"True, you aren't getting into my car. Mom told me not to let you walk home, so I called Angeal and he sent Zack to pick you up. I'm not even going home tonight anyway."

"Why?" I asked confused.

"Cause I don't want to listen to your screams of pain from what you're getting tonight. "He" Already started drinking right when he woke up, so you know it's gonna be bad. Why the hell are youin so much need for attention, Cloud? You're so selfish, and you mess up too much. How the hell did you wind up being my brother? You aren't even worth my breath. Rot in hell," he said coldly."

"And you're too much of a sadistic bastard to be mine! So how about we both curse the gods of family organization?! I'm not selfish either! If anyone in this stupid dysfunctional family is selfish it's our drunken step-father! He doesn't spend a dime on anyone unless they have booze in the other hand!" I yelled. Right after the last word came out of my mouth Sephiroth punched me right in the face and grabbed me by the throat, forcing me to shut up long enough to listen to what he had to say next.

"Now you listen to me," he said hatefully as I gasped for air, "just shut you fucking mouth and don't complain about the drunken bastard or life is going to be a lot harder for you." He kept talking but the lights were swimming before my eyes and everything was becoming blurry, and sometime in between when he first grabbed my neck to now I stopped breathing. All of a sudden he released his death-grip on my neck as someone walked into the open doorway and started yelling at him to get off of me. "He's my brother! I can do whatever the fuck I want to him! You have no right to interfere into our family affairs! Just because you are my best friend's brother doesn't mean I won't kick your ass. Watch your back Zack Fair!" he yelled as he walked out of the room.

As the lights started coming back to my eyes I saw the worry on Zack's face. By the look on his face I could tell he knew that I'm not the only one who's fucked up in my family. "Are you okay?" he asked softly as he looked sadly at me. I thought for a moment why the hell he would care, but I couldn't bring myself to ask him. Instead of asking I just said yes and closed my eyes for a moment. While I had my eyes closed, I could feel Zack's eyes on me. I sigh, frustrated because I have no clue what my crush heard or if he heard anything at all. I open my eyes and look over at him and find that he is still staring at me. "I'm ready to go now," I said, "did Sephiroth turn in the release papers yet?"

"I have no idea. The only time I saw him was when he was in here with a death-grip on your throat," he said quietly, almost as if someone might hear him in the next room, "I'll go ask and then we'll leave." "Okay," I replied.

After he left, I tried to think of how bad it was going to be when I got home. _///What the hell am I going to do? I can't go home, "he" might wind up killing me this time./// _I sigh and hold my head with my good arm, my right arm, and wonder why this kind of thing always happens to me. _///Did I do something horrible to deserve this? This whole life is shit and needs to end. I am so fucking tired of being treated like some fucking plague and nuisance. Parents are supposed to waste time, love , and money on their children. So what, am I not good enough of a child for them? I made good grades to try and make them happy, but I gave up when they seemed not to notice and care. I tried extra-curricular activities, but they told me to stop wasting their money for fun. I tried making friends, but with Sephiroth being my brother and my parents, being the way they are, scared them all off whenever I was asked to do anything. After seven years of living in Gongaga, still nothing has changed. I'm so stupid, I should have never agreed to let my mom marry that asshole of a step-father. He met my mom, married her, became a drunk, wasted all of our money, made us move from Nibelheim to this stupid place so Mom could get a better job, and now we can't get rid of him. Maybe I should run away tonight, I mean I've been planning it for months now. If they find me though will they send me back? The only full-proof plan I have, that is sure to work, because no one will save me is… Suicide… It has got to work, I have nothing motivating enough to live for anyway. I have a knife in my drawer at home and I could easily lock myself in my room after my beating, and no one would know what I had done until morning at least, but I will have bled out by then. Perfect./// _I smiled happily to myself as I formulated my plan in my head when Zack walked in saw the unusual smile on my face and asked happily, " Why so happy?"

"Because I'm finally gonna be free," I said with a disguised hint for my later plans.

"Okay? Well, Sephiroth did give the papers to them so we can leave whenever you're ready," he replied confused.

"I'm just going to put my clothes on real quick and then I'll be ready."

"Okay. Do you want me to leave and close the door?" he asked.

"Nah. You can just close the door," I replied.

After I slid on my skinny jeans I took off the hospital robe, and turned around so Zack wouldn't see the horrible scars on my back from my step-father's beatings. I then grabbed my T-shirt and put it on and threw the robe on the bed where I was just laying. I turn around and look at Zack for a few seconds and then sat down and slipped on my shoes. After getting my shoes on I stood up, grabbed my jacket, and headed toward the door.

"Alright, I am all ready to go," I say as I smile, "let's go."


End file.
